


in the moonlight

by skuls



Category: The Magnus Archives (Podcast)
Genre: F/F, Flirting, Fluff, Ghost Hunting, Pre-Canon, some light spooky flavoring
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-05
Updated: 2021-03-05
Packaged: 2021-03-19 03:26:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,761
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29868423
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/skuls/pseuds/skuls
Summary: 6. things you said under the stars and in the grassOr: Georgie and Melanie on a late-night ghost hunt (in an "unromantic" field).
Relationships: Georgie Barker/Melanie King
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18





	in the moonlight

**Author's Note:**

> thank god, i actually wrote something SHORT. and not angsty!! this is pre canon, probably an au but maybe not -- who's to say?? 
> 
> mild warning for a reference to being buried alive (it isn't portrayed at all). also can be found on tumblr @ghostbustermelanieking

It's dark out here. Melanie thinks that after three years of running a ghost hunting YouTube channel, she'd be a little more used to the dark, but she doesn't know if she'd  _ ever  _ be used to darkness like this: that rural sort of darkness that stretches on forever. 

The others are back in the van. Melanie might be back there, too, but Georgie had wanted to sleep outside, and, well, Melanie hadn't felt right leaving her alone out here. She knows Georgie best, after all, had been the one to  _ suggest  _ this collaboration. (Boost for  _ What the Ghost,  _ new fans for  _ Ghost Hunt UK,  _ and Melanie gets to spend a night hanging out with Georgie Barker. She isn't going to complain, even with the dark and the chill and the genuinely spooky feeling that comes from this field. There's a  _ reason  _ it's supposedly haunted, after all.) They've already done the bulk of filming and recording (Melanie even recited a few of Georgie's awful ad spots, which were impossible not to laugh at—she thinks she busted a rib trying); they've got a camera and Georgie's phone out here, in case anything noteworthy happens, but Melanie halfway doubts it. They haven't seen much of anything all night. 

Georgie's stretched out on her back on the sleeping bag, her face turned up to the sky. "The stars out here are  _ insane, _ " she says quietly. "Look at that! You don't get a view like that in London."

Melanie stretches out on her back, too, and stares up at the sky. Georgie's right; there's about a million little yellow pinpricks on the dark sky above them. It's enough to take your breath away. (Well, Melanie thinks, resisting the urge to look over at Georgie— _ almost  _ enough.) "That is pretty," she offers. "This'd be a good date spot, if it wasn't in a  _ haunted field  _ where three people were buried alive."

Georgie snorts, turns on her side to face Melanie, her head pillowed on her arm. "What—the  _ dark intrigue of a haunted field, _ the  _ feel of a shiver down your spine… _ that doesn't put you in the mood?" she says, in her Podcast Host Voice. 

Melanie grins, biting her lower lip to keep from cracking up. "Are you kidding me? No fucking way! This is a  _ job,  _ Barker. There's nothing less romantic than a  _ job.  _ Do you think anyone would bring a date to an  _ accounting firm,  _ o-or something like that?"

"You never know." Georgie grins too, presses her torch under her chin. " _ Stranger things have happened. _ "

Melanie does laugh this time. She rolls back over, turning her face back up towards the sky. "Not used to filming places like this," she says. "This  _ rural, _ I mean. We usually stay in the more urban areas."

"I'm not used to doing this at  _ all,"  _ says Georgie. "Well, I've done a couple, but… On-location recordings aren't exactly a podcasting speciality. 

"Let me tell you, you aren't really missing out," says Melanie. "I am  _ so sick  _ of sleeping on the floors of abandoned hospitals or whatever. The dust does  _ not  _ come out of your hair. I wish we had the budget to investigate a haunted inn once in a while, and sleep in a regular bed. Haunted BnB." She's mostly telling the truth, but she's also hamming it up a little, to try and get Georgie to laugh.

Georgie does laugh. "Haunted resort, if you're lucky?" 

"Exactly," Melanie says. 

"You YouTube people. Sounds like you get  _ all  _ the best date spots," says Georgie. "And here I'd think camping out under the stars is a big improvement."

"Not in a  _ field where people were buried alive,  _ Georgie!" 

"Oh, come on, it's no worse than any of your other sites," Georgie says. "I've seen the show. You guys go to some pretty awful places."

"Hmmph. Fair." Melanie crosses her arms over her chest and pretends she isn't grinning up at the stars. (She's ridiculous. She's absolutely nauseating—but, hey, if she's going to get like this about anybody…) "I guess there  _ is  _ one improvement," she adds, slyly. "Don't have to share the van with that lot. You've seen it, it's not a big van, we'd be packed in like sardines. And Pete snores like a freight train."

When Georgie speaks again, she's got a tone in her voice that Melanie actually recognizes; she can tell, without looking, that Georgie's got that sideways smile (the one that makes Melanie want to kiss her all over her face). "So… it's  _ not  _ all bad, being out here?" she says, an edge of teasing to her voice. 

"Nah," Melanie says. Her palms are clammy, like she's sixteen and on a first date again;  _ for god's SAKE,  _ she thinks. She stuffs her hands under her thighs and ignores it, turns her head to look at Georgie. "You're… you're good company, you know."

It's dark, so it's hard for Melanie to see, but she thinks Georgie might be smiling. Not the sideways smile—a different one. But she can't tell. She shifts towards Georgie, turning to look better at her, waiting to hear what she'll say. She thinks (haunted field or not) that she could stay here forever, lying out in this field, looking at Georgie. 

And then a sound cuts across the silence of the field, before either of them can say anything, that makes Melanie shoot up. There's a rustling, somewhere out in the field. Almost like the sound of footsteps, or something very small running through the grass. 

Melanie shudders, in that place between fear and excitement that usually means they're about to film a great scene. "Did you hear that?" she whispers, looking back towards Georgie. 

"Hear what?" Georgie whispers back, sitting up beside her. 

More rustling, the grass parting somewhere out there. Melanie fumbles for her torch and switches it on, shining it out over the field. " _ That! _ Something is out there," she says, turning sideways to grin at Georgie. 

Georgie scoots a little closer to Melanie's sleeping bag, their knees bumping together. "It's probably just a snake or something," she says. 

Melanie bumps her shoulder against Georgie's. "Skeptic." 

There's more rustling in the field, and then… something else, something almost resembling a voice. Whispering voices, somewhere close. 

"... Okay, maybe—maybe not," Georgie says softly. "D'you want me to get the camera?"

"I dunno, I don't… maybe this isn't…" The torch flickers in Melanie's hand. " _ Damn _ it," she hisses, smacking the torch with the flat of her palm. It flickers a few more times before going out completely, the light dying in something of a little gasp, and Melanie's breath catches in her throat. (She isn't scared, she tells herself. She's a  _ professional, _ she's done this kind of thing a dozen times before. Beside her, she can feel the inhales and exhales of Georgie's breaths, Georgie's warm knee against hers.) 

"Old batteries?" says Georgie. Melanie can't tell if she's laughing or not. 

"That and every  _ other _ horror cliché in the book," Melanie mutters. There's more rustling, further out in the field, in larger quantities; it sounds like it's coming from all around them. She smacks the torch a few more times in frustration. "You know what, yeah, maybe we should be film—"

There's a loud shriek, from somewhere in the field. High and loud and brief, and what Melanie might honestly describe as  _ blood curdling.  _

Melanie jumps. Jumps in a way that the host of a ghost hunting YouTube show absolutely should not jump, in a way that makes her sort of glad they aren't filming (because this would be a bad addition to the episode). She jumps and scrambles backwards, and crashes full-on into Georgie, limbs banging together, all elbows and knees and the warmth of Georgie against her. "Whoa!" Georgie says, and then her arms are around Melanie's shoulders, steadying her. 

" _ Jesus, _ " Melanie hisses, coming to herself all at once—realizing abruptly that she is hanging onto Georgie's shirt. She lifts her head and finds that they're nose to nose now, Georgie grinning a little with amusement, her dark eyes shining in the moonlight. Melanie swallows hard and says, "Wh-what  _ was  _ that?" but she doesn't move away. Neither of them let go. 

Georgie's grin grows wider, and she bumps her forehead gently against Melanie's, briefly before pulling back. "What do you  _ think? _ " 

Melanie's mouth is dry. She can't look for the ghost, couldn't look away from Georgie if her life depended on it. "I… I thought you didn't believe in ghosts," she says weakly. (Georgie's host shtick does kind of have an air of disbelief to it. When you've been in the industry long enough, you can tell.) 

"Of course I do," says Georgie, and her voice is entirely sincere. "You really thought I didn't?"

Another shriek, louder this time, and Melanie jolts forward into Georgie, pressing into Georgie's side. Georgie laughs a little, tightens her arms around Melanie. Melanie thinks of suitable things to say— _ This is more intense than our usual shoots  _ or  _ I guess I'm a little on edge tonight _ —but all she can come up with is a not-really-threatening, "If you  _ tell _ anyone about this…"

"Our secret," says Georgie. 

Melanie scoffs, resists the urge to lean her head on Georgie's shoulder. She's moved fully onto Georgie's sleeping bag by now—the grass is rustling, like the thing is walking away, but she can't bring herself to turn and look. Andy's going to kill her when he finds out she  _ saw  _ something, a definitive something, and didn't get it on camera. (Then again, when he hears the whole story, maybe he'll understand.)

She doesn't let go of Georgie. They're still nose to nose, legs tangled together, close enough to whisper. Close enough that Georgie can hear when Melanie murmurs, "Are you scared?"

"No," says Georgie, and Melanie knows she's telling the truth. "Are you?"

"No," says Melanie, just before she kisses her. 

Georgie lets out a little gasp, and Melanie's about to pull away when Georgie pulls her closer, one hand freezing on Melanie's cheek. Melanie smiles into Georgie's mouth, something like laughter bubbling up in her chest. She doesn't go far when she pulls back, rests her forehead against Georgie's again, and Georgie's hand moves from her cheek to her hair, her temple, her jaw, and she whispers, "Thank  _ god. _ " And so Melanie kisses her again. 

(They sleep that night in Georgie's sleeping bag, crammed in together in a way that is absolutely not cramped or uncomfortable; it's just  _ good _ . And the ghost doesn't come back. 

Or at least if it  _ does, _ Melanie doesn't notice.) 


End file.
